Bradley County TN Jan 5 2012 During an initial appearance in Bradley County General Sessions Court Tuesday for a man facing aggravated arson and a first-degree murder charge, two family members of the deceased were arrested after allegedly disrupting the proceeding.

Jimmy Robert Rogers Jr., 22, and Aaron Michael Sadler, 33, were charged by Bradley County Sheriff’s Office Court Security officers after they shouted and attempted to go across a railing at the front of Judge Sheridan Randolph’s courtroom, according to a statement from Bob Gault, media relations coordinator for BCSO.

Russell Brown, 35, was initially charged with aggravated arson after Cleveland Fire Department firefighters answered a fire call at Days Inn on Georgetown Road on the morning of New Year’s Day.

They discovered the man inside the room had been the victim of an alleged homicide.

The victim of the reported stabbing was identified as Harold Lee Montgomery, 39.

Initial reports from police indicated Montgomery had been stabbed in the neck and upper torso. His body was sent to Knoxville for autopsy. The initial stages should be completed today, according to Lt. Mark Gibson of Cleveland Police Department Criminal Investigations Division.

Police searched for Brown on Sunday, noting he was a “person of interest.”

Montgomery’s black-and-white Volkswagen Cabriolet had been driven away from the scene.

As the investigation continued, investigators learned the two men had been childhood friends and had sexual encounters in the past.

Gibson said the two men had attended a New Year’s Eve party at Brown’s apartment earlier, before leaving to get a room at the Days Inn and celebrate Brown’s birthday, which was listed in reports as being on New Year’s Eve.

“They had known each other since childhood and met for a New Year’s Eve party at Brown’s apartment, then left to get liquor and a motel room,” Gibson said.